I'm proud of it...

I've been up for over 18 hours reading A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo. I've just finished my opening paragraph for a paper due in seven hours. I think it's pretty tight.I might post the rest later upon request.

America’s “police action” in Vietnam has been, to date, the longest armed conflict in U.S. history. Caputo initially began writing A Rumor of War as an autobiography, but his personal project soon evolved into a memoir in which he chronicled not only the events of the war but, more significantly, the way the war changed him and his brothers in arms. Though significantly less deadly than previous American wars, Vietnam was a reaction chamber in which climate, combat, and untold numbers of atrocities served as the catalysts that transformed the hearts and minds of an entire generation. For those young men unlucky enough to be thrown into the steaming jungles and rolling hills of Vietnam, the ideals of war as a glorious endeavor so valued by their father’s generations were shattered by the grim realities of guerilla warfare.